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On-site disposal debate reaches Chillicothe

Land is shown being cleared last summer in the area where an on-site waste disposal site is scheduled to be constructed on Department of Energy land in Piketon. Up until last week, clearing and leveling land for the disposal site was all that had cleared the formal approval process necessary for Congressional line-item projects. Last week, Fluor-BWXT learned that formal approval has been granted for construction at the site.(Photo: Chris Balusik/Gazette file photo)Buy Photo

CHILLICOTHE - The fight to stop the creation of an on-site waste disposal facility on Department of Energy land in Piketon is spreading to Chillicothe.

Piketon Village Councilman Dennis Foreman appeared before Chillicothe City Council this week to ask it to weigh in against the creation of the disposal cell. The cell, for which land is already being cleared, is being designed to handle low-level contaminated waste from decontamination and decommissioning activities at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon.

The cell's design was approved by the U.S. Department of Energy and given the green light by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency in a Record of Decision arrived at in 2015 following a public comment period.

The cell, which Foreman and several others who make up a vocal opposition prefer to call a nuclear waste dump, has sparked a strong public backlash in Pike County after Piketon Village Council commissioned Washington D.C.-based The Ferguson Group to conduct an independent evaluation of thousands of pages of DOE data that went into creating the Record of Decision.

The independent study's conclusions and the DOE response have contributed to the creation of a new citizens opposition group, Citizens Against a Radioactive Dump (CARD), which has conducted a couple of community meetings thus far that have drawn large crowds. The cell has also been formally opposed by the villages of Piketon and Waverly, the Scioto Valley Local Schools, Seal and Scioto Townships in Pike County, Sheriff Charlie Reader, Pike County Auditor Erica Snodgrass and Pike County Treasurer Donald Davis.

Now, Foreman would like Chillicothe City Council to take a stand. Members this week indicated a willingness to discuss the situation.

"I'm going to forward to our president of council a request that council looks at a resolution on this," said At-Large Councilman Dustin Proehl.

Terry Williams, an audience member at Monday's City Council meeting, said this is not just a Pike County issue but a regional one that those in Ross County should be concerned with.

"It's very disturbing to me at this point that we, as a region, are on the brink of abandoning that site to become a nuclear waste dump that will not produce high-paying jobs, will certainly not produce highly compensated employees and will essentially abandon over a half-century of investment and work on a site to just allow it to be staffed by a few guards and a lot of really dangerous material," Williams said. "We have an opportunity as a region to push for real development and real relocation for large investment in that area, and I guarantee you that if this process goes through and we have a nuclear waste site there, no company worth its salt is going to locate its main operations in that site."

While county commissioners in the four counties that provide the largest number of workers at the cleanup site — Pike, Ross, Scioto, and Jackson — have each previously passed resolutions of support for the Record of Decision that allowed work to move forward on the disposal cell, Pike County Commissioners Tony Montgomery and Fred Foster are now calling for a temporary pause in the work. In a statement released by the two earlier this month, they note they were not involved in the meetings and decisions leading to the Record of Decision as that was prior to their time in office and that they feel a pause is needed until an independent study of the site can be conducted by a professional not associated with either side in the debate.

Piketon Mayor Billy Spencer, meanwhile, has drafted a letter for Energy Secretary Rick Perry in advance of his Friday visit to the Piketon site clearly stating the village's position and frustration.

"Our concerns have been expressed through a third-party assessment, as well as through letters to your project office manager," Spencer wrote.

"We firmly believe DOE and the community would be better served by constructing a first-class intermodal facility to ship this waste by truck and train to approved off-site disposal facilities in arid climates with very few human and ecological receptors. We ask that you consider building an asset that is aligned with President Trump's vision to improve our country's infrastructure. An intermodal facility will attract development to our community and support the development of a domestic uranium enrichment capability."

Spencer also requested time to meet with Perry during the energy secretary's visit, but was told in an email response that the visit was to allow Perry to become familiar with the site and that the time set aside for the visit would not be enough to allow for meetings with local leaders.

As the debate continues, the effort to explore the impact on Ross County will continue. The Chillicothe Ross League of Women Voters has announced that gaining an understanding of the on-site waste disposal site situation in Piketon will be among topics discussed in this year's League public information programs.